A slow steady, rhythmic pace is best.

Hold a hiking stick, if not, hold whatever on the ground for balancing.

Medical studies shown that using 2 hiking sticks results in 250 tons of pressure being transferred from the back, knees, and the legs to the arms during an 8-hour hiking day.

Conserve energy, start the walk with slow pace and shorter distance in the first day.

In a marathon, for every minute too fast you go out, you lose 2 minutes coming in. Same idea applied to walking, too much mileage too early in your hike will leave you stiff and sore as well as more susceptible to blisters and injuries.

Have a rest before tired.

Walking downhill is more demanding especially on steep slopes. Going downhill too fast and jumping over obstacles with your pack can actually damage your knees.

You are also more susceptible to ankle sprains on tough downhill terrain because the gravity is pulling you down faster than you want to go.

Pacing - By normal pace, find out how many paces and how long you take to the 100m. E.g. 50 paces and 1 minute. So, for 500 paces or 1 hour you have walk, you get an estimation of 1km and 6km respectively.

Most guidebook authors suggest their average walking pace at 3km per hour plus 1 hour for every 350m vertical gain (or elevation). E.g. Climbing a mountain with 10km in distance and 1000m in height, (10km/3km) + (1000/350) = 3.3 + 2.9 = 5.2 hours.

Traditional Naismith's Rule suggests 1 hour for every 5km walked and plus 1 minute for every 10m climbed. In practice this is rather fast.

For a safe river, at least wear a pair of Sport sandal.

If the water is deep and you can't see the bottom, it is best to wear your boots (although your wet boots will take long time to dry) without socks.

Wear a shorter pant to reduce drag.

Unfasten your pack's waist belt so that if you do fall in, you can extricate yourself quickly.

Use a hiking stick (or 2) to help you balance.

Group of 2 or more rarely become dangerous lost, even if they have no wilderness experience. The real danger comes to an individual who is separated from the rest of the party. For this reason, always try to keep every one together, wait for the slower one, and have a rear guard to keep track of stragglers.

Stop, look around, shout, and listen for answering shout, the rest may be just at short distance from you. If the answer is silence :

Retrace your steps and get back on route. If it is not possible :

Sit down, try to regain your calm, and combat terror with reason. Then :

Use the map and compass, get to the place to meet the others or get home whichever easier (assuming the others will wait you at a particular point or someone will contact your home). If you are unable to determine your position on map :

Backtrack the most obvious path with most walked signs (e.g. no spider webs, lots of rubbish, footprints etc), at the meantime try to recall whatever landmarks to bring you back to your last known point, or whichever known point on the map. If unable to backtrack the correct path :

Follow the river or walking downhill (if you are on mountain) or follow any direction of compass bearing that will eventually brings you out of the terrain. If this is not possible before dark :

Prepare for a night by finding water, firewood, and shelter. Keep a fire going to protect yourself from beast, cold and to give seachers something to see. Try to shout, whistle, or making noises occasionally to let others hear you.

The odds are that you will be reunited with your group by the next morning. If not, repeat the steps, if the terrain is impossible for you to travel alone, or you are injured and unable to proceed :

Concentrate on letting yourself be found, stay in a open place, builds a fire, and make noises periodically. Find a place near water source for you to survive, and logically, the searchers will seek those place near water source.